Records of the Nine Heavens (First Excerpt)
Records of the Nine Heavens - Overview of the Nine Heavens:
A long time ago, Space ruptured and broke off into countless Planes. That is how the True Earth was created, followed by the True Heavens, all together within the same Plane...
There was only one original Earth and only one original Heaven, however a seemingly countless number of Planes of Existence with characteristics similar to each other also held their own Earth and Heavens.
Together with the True Heavens, a race of Beasts were born...
The first generation of these Beasts of Heaven, born straight from the energy of the Heavens and the Stars, dubbed themselves as...
The Primordial Beasts!
In between many Primordial Beasts, four stood out amongst the rest, wether it was their fighting power or the terror they instilled in the heart of their enemies. Simply put, no one was above them.
They were thus dubbed the Four Primordial Emperors! Each became a ruler of a portion of the True Heaven, they were to Primordial Beasts what gods would be amongst the mortals. Their undisputed power allowed them to bring all Beasts under Heaven together, forming the Heavenly Realm!
Even then though, war did not end. Slaughter continued as countless factions formed, some rose one day just to be slaughtered the next...
These four beasts, their existence way above the rest, not caring about mundane matters and tired of the never-ending struggles for power, left the world and disappeared from the True Heavens and True Earth. The other Primordial Beasts took this as a tacit approval for an all-out conflict and this lead to a war that would decide the Fate of the Heavens.
The Endless Slaughter! Millions of years of struggle, many powerful beasts appeared and rose to prominence:
At the beginning, it was nothing less than a pebble. Then, as the Heavens formed, this small rock was given life and found a way to condense energy into objects and even living beings. This beast dubbed this ability of his as Aura Manipulation and became the Aura Dragon.
The Aura Dragon disappeared as soon as the first conflict started and went into seclusion. However he, who had hidden from the world ever since it was born, as the Endless Slaughter reached its apex, reappeared with twelve powerful monsters by his side, each made out of the mysterious Aura: the Twelve Aura Beasts!
With a single wave of his hand, the sky would darken as countless gigantic blades fell like raindrops, blood flowed like rivers and the Earth trembled...
[...]
The Seven Leviathans, kings of the depths! Lords of the seven seas of the original Earth and capable of destroying the Earth and make the Heavens themselves tremble with their mighty roars...
Their fused technique especially, capable of calling forth the true power of the Seven Hidden Mysteries of the Qi* (life, death, time, space, future, past and gravity), brought forth destruction as, just like seven meteors, the Seven brothers blotted out the sky with their massive figures and rains of blood...
[*For Qi, it is intended the world, the very meaning of existence itself! The Seven Kings had such skill in the Qi that each of them nearly mastered one of these aspects, making them existences ever-close to deities!]
[...]
Of course, nobody should forget about him, the Golden-Scaled Calamity! A young Sky Dragon, completely normal for a Primordial Beast's standards, some would even consider him weak, suddenly rose to prominence.
How? His inability to control Aura didn't allow him be on par with the Aura Dragon on that aspect and his capabilities in the Seven Hidden Mysteries were just about the same as any other Primordial Beast.
It was when he first bathed in the blood of an enemy of his, that his thirst for blood grew so much his will alone seemed to be able to devour the sky! Before he knew it, he had discovered a way to absorb and then refine the energy of his opponents!
He devoured and absorbed countless opponents and became so strong, the Heavens would tremble from his presence only. Capable of swallowing the True Heaven themselves if angered, he came to be known as the Heaven Devouring Dragon!
In the future, mortals would refer to him as Blindlight for, his body, so powerful that it was capable of destroying the Earth and destroy entire Planes of Existence with its presence alone, had become so bright few could stare at it directly. This was because of the countless essences his body had absorbed during the War and the refined souls of the many experts who had attempted to block his rise in power!
[...]
[...] The Purple-Haired, Green-Eyed Demon, the Titan of the Sword Caves... Even the Demon of Blood and Death, Yama, who rose to such power he became King of the Underworld itself, rose to prominence during this period of nonstop war and slaughter.
The Underworld, a Realm that appeared due to the need of a never-ending number of souls, which had dispersed into the atmosphere, to gather in one place... Yama became the Lord of such a Realm and made him one of the most feared Primordial Beasts in any Plane!
[...]
Countless Primordial Beasts rose and then died like moths drawn to a flame... This was until He came. Out of nowhere, apparently out of thin air, a young boy with red eyes and a strange mark on his forehead also joined the bloody war, the Endless Slaughter!
A single triangle inscribed into a square, that same square inscribed into a circle.
Extremely mysterious, holding countless mysteries within, this strange mark was right between his eyebrows: it represented the Underworld below the Earth and the Heavens above them both! The Heavens above all!
A single finger attack, this was all it took for him to separate the True Heavens from the True Earth and the True Earth from the Underworld!
The scission of their originals caused the countless Heavens and Earths to separate as well! A single finger created the world as we know it!
Many people in the future would claim to have witnessed the power of that single attack: the versions vary from an extremely flashy finger attack, filled with the might to destroy everything that it pointed towards, to an extremely casual attack, yet containing such wisdom about the world that it was able to exterminate any resistance the Underworld, the True Heavens and the True Earth offered.
Such power, it marked the end of all conflict. No one could believe the rift that had now appeared between the Underworld, the Heavens and Earth, apparently a rift that couldn't be mended back together.
After he had done that that, the boy had lifted his head, his voice reaching each and every being in any plane and every corner of any and all worlds:
"You are brothers, you are above all else, yet we all slaughter each other for power! Now, you have witnessed my power, I am stronger than any of you! Now that we know no power can rival mine, let's end this meaningless war once and for all! I shall become your ruler and assure you peace! This is what I, Hundredth Xū, swear!"
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Hearing that, the four Primordial Emperors reappeared into the world and then acknowledged the power of the newcomer as being:
"As Tall as Heaven, yet so Deep that the depths of the Underworld can't compare... All this while gaining awe from the Earth! These are the qualities a ruler of all that exist should have! We old things shall aid you in your intent of truly unifying all below your Rule!"
The four Emperor, thus, returned and helped this unknown boy to become the ruler of the Heavens: this boy would grow up to become none other than the Jade Emperor. His mentors and friends, the four Emperors, soon grew accustomed to this boy with red eyes and the strange mark in between his eyebrows.
He would gain their respect and friendship, becoming more than friends, they became brothers! As for his descendants... they would be referred to as Ancients!
They would populate the Earth and, soon, many more of the powerful beasts would also descend to the Earth from the Heavens and rise to prominence there. The barren Earth soon flowed with life as many different races grew and evolved there.
Years passed, a Second Generation of these Beasts of the Heavens appeared. Four Beasts, sons and daughters of the Four Primordial Emperors, they would be called the Four Divine Beasts and would become the Four Divine Kings!
Four powerful Divine Beasts, they grew close just like brothers, abandoned by their parents.
Left alone as the four Emperors disappeared from the Heavens once more, leaving the Heavenly Realm to the Jade Emperor, the four younglings banded together and very soon tales of their power spread out!
In less than a million years, they reached power capable of being on par with the most powerful beasts under the Jade Emperor's Heavens!
Their fight against the Behemoth of the Sword Lake Mountains especially was described as dazzling to the eye! The might of the Black Turtle which gifted its body with the strength to split mountains, the reflexes of the White Tiger that allowed her to dodge any strike, the firepower and supporting abilities of the Azure Dragon and the incredible damage potential of the flames of the Vermillion Bird!
The Earth shifted, Ancient Beasts fell to their knees, the Oceans surged and the Flames reached the Heavens! [...]
Divine Earth King, the Black Turtle! The Eldest Brother amongst the four beasts, ruler of the Earth! The shield of the group and the one holding the title of the strongest under the Heavens! Proud son of the two Primordial Beasts who were the rulers of all Lands, wether these lands were in the Heavens or in the Earth they still were their lords, he grew up... [...]
Divine Beast King, the White Tiger! The Eldest Sister, ruler of everything that is alive, ruler of all Beasts! No one can refuse her orders, as she is the ruler of all Beasts! Awakening her true power as she was ambushed by... [...]
Divine Sea King, the Azure Dragon! The ruler of the True Earth's Oceans, a true behemoth of the depths! He passed his youth learning cultivation from the Seven Leviathans, the rulers of the Seven Seas and thus his subordinates. As calm as a water surface with no ripples, yet at the same time as fierce as the hurricanes that sink ships and drown beasts! Noteworthy are his Evergreen Coral Sandals, a gift from the Jade Emperor himself, giving the Sea King the power of going through great distances in the blink of an eye! [...]
Divine Fire King, the Vermillion Bird! The youngest and yet at the same time the most unpredictable of the four: like a flame, she would burn at her highest when she is given more fuel to feed on, thus the most powerful the opponent, the more she would turn into a goddess of destruction! Ninety-Nine Steps Burn Down The Heavens! This ability especially proved to be the... [...]
Primordial Beasts, Primordial Emperors and Divine Kings however weren't the only ones who populated the Heavens. That's right: millions of years after the birth of the Four Kings, a new generation of beasts appeared....
And amongst them, also appeared the one person who would, in the future, rule the Heavens with an Iron Fist and become the Lord of the Nine Heavens, Tian!
Excerpt from the work: Records of the Nine Heavens
Author: Unknown
Records of the Nine Heavens (SecondExcerpt)
Records of the Nine Heavens - Tian's Rise to Power and Lady Jin FengHuang's Rebellion
As thousands of millennia passed, a third generation came to existence. From the third onwards, these beasts would no longer be called Primordial Beasts or Divine Beast but would be simply called Heavenly Beasts!
Amongst them, a certain Heavenly Beast grew up, his greed for the throne of the Heavenly Realm unparalleled by any other... The weakest of the Heavenly Beasts, he thirsted for power: Tian, as he called himself (the word for Heaven), his true name lost in the ages, planned to acquire the throne!
Through countless subterfuges, deep scheming and profound planning, he somehow managed to fool and murder the all-powerful Jade Emperor, who saw Tian as his own son. Had that been all, it wouldn't have angered the Heavenly Beasts too much, after all, this world is the world where the winner is King and the loser is Thief.
What Tian actually dared to do was to steal Hundredth Xū's power! Then, as the foolish Heavenly Beasts believed what they were told without any questioning, claimed the throne with the claim that the jade Emperor had died due to some bastard's scheme... And left him on charge!
Tian became the Lord of the Heavens! He then went on and, to demonstrate his power, cleaved the heavens in two... Then slashed once again and the Heavens were not two anymore, but three! Then they became five, seven and, finally, nine! He slashed the Heavens in half five times, creating the Nine Heavens!
Fooled by his scheme, everybody pledged their allegiance through Soul Contracts, and the like, and were thus, from then on, completely unable to fight Tian! The four Primordial Emperors were banished from the Nine Heavens and the four Divine Kings were imprisoned on a flying island in the skies: Worldlords Island.
Soon, his true self was revealed and his figure as a just and rightful Lord of the Heavens was torn apart as he became a Tyrant. He placed a seal on Heavenly Beasts and Mortals alike, blocking their path to Immortality.
Unable to rebel against the Lord of the Heavens, the Four Emperors could only watch as they saw countless people get slaughtered if they didn't comply with Tian's demands...
[...]
A thousand years prior to the Saint's rise to power, a person couldn't hold it anymore... It was none other than Lady Jin FengHuang!
This person was a Primordial Beast, to be more precise, she was the partner of the Primordial Sky Emperor, the Roc... She was none other than the Golden Phoenix! Born of the tears of the Primordial Fire Emperor, she and the Roc fell in love and as a result, the Divine Fire King was born.
The Divine Fire King, the Vermillion Bird, technically had the most ancient bloodline amongst the four Kings as she had the blood of two of the Emperors. Amusingly enough though, destiny made her the youngest of the four siblings...
[...]
Lady Jin FengHuang attempted the impossible: to release the seal bearing down on the Humans and the Heavenly Beasts to allow them a chance against Tian! Such a seal, created through the power of the first, true, Lord of Heaven, the Jade Emperor, an existence akin to a God, was supposed to last through the ages!
Yet, she didn't give up: she, with her own low cultivation, challenged this seemingly indestructible seal, laid down with the power of the strongest Primordial Beast... And won! She actually succeeded in lifting it!
According to some, this might have been because her talent and power was on par, if not higher, than the Four Emperors' themselves! This was also due to her special body, as it allowed her to regenerate even if only a single speck of her existence remained.
However, due to some twisted joke of fate, she did indeed successfully lift the seal... But she wounded her Soul and exhausted her seemingly never-ending vitality in the process!
As time passed, she slowly began to fade into the world: her individuality gone with the fatal wound to her Soul, the Qi within her body wished to merge back into the world. One day, her seemingly transparent and already faint figure suddenly... Disappeared.
The only thing that would be left behind would be a single silver feather... Grown dull due to the death of its previous owner, the only sign showing the great power of the glorious Golden Phoenix was the golden glow that emanated from within the silver body of the feather...
Hundreds of years passed peacefully: although the seal had been broken, the power of the first 'God' was no joke! Then... A certain human, the Heavenly Beast referred to her as the Prophet due to her ability of glimpsing into the future, prophesied of a person that shall bring chaos and destruction to the Nine Heavens, destroy the Tyrant and take the Throne as the Lord of Heaven!
This person would be not from the Earth, not from the Heavens, not from the Underworld: he would not be given birth from the Heavens, he would be born from nothingness, and he will be the sign of a calamity that shall befall the Nine Heavens!
The Prophet was a blind old woman who, for some twist of fate, had been able to interact with Heavenly Beasts. She was the one who gave the Divine Kings and the Primordial Emperors their names as well as preventing many catastrophes to fall onto the Heavens and Earth alike thanks to her ability of glimpsing into the future.
However, when he had first heard this, Tian shrugged it off as the mere blabbering of an old fool... Time proved him wrong [...]
Thus, he began to search all over the Nine Heavens, the Earth and even visited the Underworld, where Yama, King of Hell, was cheated out of a favor thanks to the Tyrant's sharp tongue and mellifluous words.
Even then though, he didn't find any trace of this potential threat to the precarious state that the Nine Heavens were in after Lady Jin FengHuang's actions... and a new hope for those who wished to rebel!
Excerpts from the work: Records of the Nine Heavens
Author: Unknown